Vacuum-tube regulator.



PATEN'I'ED MAY 8, 1906.

D. MoF. MOORE.

VACUUM TUBE REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.7,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 WITNESSES:

PATENTED MAY 8 D. MoF'. MOORE. VACUUM TUBE REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7/1906 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2v 00000000 00000000000 0u0n n 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 000000 000000 0 0 w w00w 0n0n0 0 0 0 0 0 0n0 0 0 0 INVENTOR WITNESSES:

DanIe/WEr/an 770021 ATTORNEYS I UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

DANIEL MOFARLAN MOORE, OF NEWARK,

NEW- JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO MOORE ELECTRICAL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPO- RATION OF NEW YORK.

VACUUM-TUBE REGULATOR- Original application filed August 21, 1905 Serial No. 276,003. Di

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL MOFARLAN MOORE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, (whose post-office address is 52 Lawrence street,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum-Tube Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to vacuumtube or vapor electric lamps, vacuum or vapor rectifiers, X-ray tubes, vacuum oscillographs, wireless telegraph receivers, and other devices which are provided with suitable electric terminals whereby electric energy may be passed through the gaseous contents of the tube for an urpose and which generally may be classi e under the head of vacuum-tubes.

The present application is a division of my prior application filed in the United States Patent Office August 21, 1905, Serial No. 275,003, and relates more particularl to a method of maintainingaconstancy in t etension or condition of the gas within the tube.

The invention is of special utility in maintaining the gaseous tension or condition 1n vacuum-tube lamps, and has for its object, generally speaking, to remove the difiiculty hitherto met with in the operation of this general class of apparatus from deterioration or variation of the vacuum or gaseous or vapor tension, or, in the case of lamps, from the gas becoming spent or losing its light giving and conducting function as the vacuum gets higher. Hitherto when the tube fails through change of the gaseous tension or gaseous condition it has been necessary in this art to either open the tube and renew the contents and then reexhaust the same or else to provide within the tube some solid material which would act as a enerator or regenerator of gas to automatically repair the im aired vacuum.

riefly stated, the invention consists in automatically maintaining the vacuum in a vacuum-tube at a substantially constant degree by feeding gas to the tube from a body of gas having a higher density or tension than that to be maintained in said tube and regulating or determining the rate of feed automatically by changes in the vacuum or gas tension Within said tube.

Specification of Letters Patent.

vided and this application filed February 7,1906. Serial No. 299,883.

Patented May 8, 1906.

In carrying out my invention the feed at the required rate may be continuousor an intermittent feed, and, as will be obvlous, the densit of the'body of as which is fed or admitte .to the tube-at t e regulated rate may be anything above the normal low pressure or density maintained in the tube. The changes in the gaseous tension or density within said tube may be made efiective in any desired way and by any desired devices controlled or operated automatically in response to or in accordance with the variations of such gaseous tension in said tube.

Preferably in carrying out my invention I em loy a feed device in the nature of a valve which is inter osed in a passage between the body of gas 0 higher densit and the tube in which the lower tension or igher vacuum is to be maintained. As a valve illustrated, I show a form of valve in another application for patent filed by me August 21, 1905, Se-

rial No. 275,003, and comprising substantially porous material, through which the gas from the source is permitted to percolate in amounts determined by the level of a sealing liquid in which the mass of porous material is immersed. While it is possible to utilize the changes in tension of the gas within the vacuum-tube in various ways, I prefer to show them as made effective through the o eration of an electromagnet responsive to changes in the resistance of the gas which accompany such changes of tension.

My invention is particularly useful as a method of maintaining a constant luminosity in vacuum-tube lamps, and when em- 1ployed for this purpose it is preferable to ee the density or tension in the tube at sue a degree that a decrease of the density will have the effect of lowering the resistance of the gas to the passage of an electric current. The magnet may be made to respond directly or indirectly to the changes of electrical resistance in the tube by connecting it into circuit in an desired way. When the tube is operated om a transformer, it may be laced either in the primary or the secon ary circuit of said transformer. When so connected, a decrease in the resistance to the passage of the current through the gas in the tube consequent upon a decrease of the density, or, in other words, an increase of the vacuum, will cause morecurrent to flow in the magnet and strengthen the same. This increase of strength in the ma at is emploied to operate upon any suita le device s, suc as the valve, m such wayas to admit more gas to the tube, and thus bring the vacuum back to normal, .whereu on the strength of the ma et decreases an mission 0 gas from the source is automaticall cut off. f n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates dia ammatically an arrangement of circuits an devices suitable for practicing my invention. Fig. 2 shows a modification in the manner of connecting up the magnet. Fig. 3 is a vertical tromagnet and a form of valve t em loyed.

he invention will be herein described as at may be carried out in connection with a vacuum-- tube lam employe 1 is the tube of glass, and 2 the internal electrodes joined to conductors sealed in the tube and furnished with electric energy su plied from an source-as, for instance, t e secondary 3 o a transformer the primary 4 of which is connected to the mains 5.

At 6 I- have indicated a pipe sealed to the tube 1 at any oint through which pipe the gas is fed in t e required amount into the amp and which tube leads from any body or source of the tube. I

Referring to Fig. 3, 7 indicates a mass of any porous materialas, for instance, carbonwhich is sealed like a stopper in the end of a tube 8, joined or leading to pipe 6 The exposed end of the plug in'which air or any other gas is and the lam or mass 7 is coated in a chamber 9, wherein is maintained a pressure of air or other as suitable for use in the lamp. Tubes 8 and 9 are preferabl concentric and are arranged, as shown, to orm an annular chamber which receives the lowerend dis lacer 10, and in the chamber 9 is a ody of iquid consistin of mercury or other liquid which surrounds the mass of orous material 7, leaving the up er terminal of the same exposed or adapts to be exposed by a slight change of level of the liquid 11, brought about in any wayas, for instance, by the operation of the displacer 10, which for that purpose can be suspended from the core 12 of an electromagnet. -By moving the displacer the tip of the mass 7 may be more or less exposed or by a suitable adjustment ma be a1- ternately ex osed and sunk beneath tli e level of the liqui so as to vary the extent of the porous surfaces through which gas under pressure may leak into and through the mass 7. The plunger 10 is preferabl of lass, like chamber or tube 9, to permit t e ug 7 and the position of its tip 1n the liquid to be observed. The plunger or displacer may be atsection throu h. the elec-' gas of greater. density than that in of a plunger or li%uidceases tached to the core 12 by means of induratedwlres." placer 10 is in communication with any source or body of gas under ressure-as, for instance, the atmosphere? ough a hole 14, communicating wit the spacesin the tube-9, which latter receive the air or other gas through pipe 15. An adjustment of the vertical position of the displacer to determine the extent to which the ti shall be normall the liquid may be secured by adjusting the position of the coil 16 of the electromagnet vertically on the tube 9. Mercury 1s preferred, because it forms an effective air seal and does not clog the pores of the porous mass 7.

connected in a variety of ways, so as to feel the effect of a change of resistance within the lamp. As shown in Fig. 1,' the may be in series with the lamp and secon ary coil; but they mi ht be in series with the primary core when t e lamp is -o erated on a constant potential system. 7 hey might, as well understood in the art, be connected in other ways to the circuit of the translating device.

As is wellknown, there is a critical tension or degree of vacuum in the tube, at which the resistance to the passage of electric ener y through the gas from one electrode to the um increases beyond this critical point, the resistance increases and the current falls. It is preferable to operate the tube below the degree of vapor or gas tension, at which the resistance and current change from a decreasing value of current to an 'increasin value of resistance and decreasing value 0% current; but for economy the degree of vacuto the point where, the resistance 1s least though sufficiently below such point to avoid the possibility of changes of tension extendin over to the degree where the resistance will increase with an increase of the vacuum. In the operation of the apparatus when the vacuum in the lamp deteriorates slightly through continued action of the electric energy u on the gaseous contents the resistance ecreases and slightly more current flows through the magnet, which thereu on causes the height of the li uid-level to fali by lifting the displacer 10. his permitsgas to flow through the tip of the plug or pencil 7 into the lamp until the normal gaseous condition therein-is restored and the tube is made to conduct less current, so that the magnet will let the displacer 10 fall again.

By adjustment of the magnet any desired degree of vacuum in the tube or any desired degree of intensity of light can be maintained within narrow limits. 25 is a suitable stop-cock in the connection fiber tube "13, which carries core 12 of iron 1 The space within the cylindrical d-isother of the tube is at itslowest. Ifthe vacu-' 15 of the mass 7 exposed a ove the level of a The coils 16 of the electromagnet may be um should be maintained asnear as possible ceases between feed-tube 6 and the valve. 2 shows simply a modification of the circuits wherein the magnet is connected to the primary instead of to the secondary of the transformer.

My invention is a plicable not only to lamps having interna electrodes, but also to those having external electrodes wherein the energy is transmitted by electrostatic induction to the contents of the lamp.

It is obvious that my invention is applicable to tubes supplied either with alternating or direct currents.

In the foregoing description and in the claims a pended the term gas is to be understoo as including the aeriform condition of any solid or liquid and commonly known as vapor.

The constructions of apparatus shown in the present case as one of the forms of apparatus or devices suitable for use in practlcing my invention are not herein claimed, as they form the subject of claims in my application, filed August 21, 1905, Serial No. 275,003. The special construction of valve is not here in claimed, but forms the subject of a separate application for patent filed by me April 16, 1906, Serial No. 311,816.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The method of maintaining a constantluminosity in a vacuum-tube by feeding gas thereto from a body of gas maintained at a density greater than that within the tube and regulatin the amount fed by changes of the densitlyho gas within said tube.

2. e method of maintaining the vacuum in a vacuum-tube at any desired tension by feeding gas thereto from a body of gas maintained at a density eater than that within the tube and adjusting the admission of gas from said body of gas by variations in the electrical resistance of the gas within the tube.

3. The method of maintaining the luminous condition of a vacuum-tube lam at its normal by regulating the admission 0 gas to said lamp through variations in the electrical resistance of the gas within the tube accompanying changes in luminosity.

4. The herein-described method of maintainin a constant luminosity in a vacuumtube amp, consisting in maintaining the vacuum at such degree of tension or density that a decrease of density will have the effect of decreasing the resistance of the as to the passage of an electric current, uti izing the decrease. of resistance to effect a change in the flow of an electric current and employing the changed stren th of current to regulate the flow of gas to t e tube.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 28th day of November, A. D. 1905.

DANIEL MOFARLAN MOORE.

Witnesses:

C. T. TISOHNER,J1., LILLIAN BLOND. 

